Always There
by Ruby Red-ink
Summary: A runin with James' worst enemy Snape has caused Lily to come into danger. set at 7th year beforeduring Lily and James are dating r


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter…sweet. simple. and to the point.

**Author's Note: **Just so ya kno, I didn't put the rat (a.k.a. pettigrew) in here becuz he doesn't deserve to be in my story…so there

**Always There**

Lily was sitting by the lake on the Hogwarts grounds on a brilliant Saturday afternoon. Just after she thought she was going to have a perfect Potter free day, her hopes were dashed.

"Hey there Evans!" He called walking down the grounds.

"What now, Potter?" She asked exasperated.

"Oh, shunned again, eh Potter?" came a cold, drawling voice behind them.

"Why don't you shove off Sni…Snape?"

Lily noticed how James almost slipped up, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out why he didn't just go ahead and say it, it just wan't like him not to insult Snape.

"Snape, for once in your life, why don't you try not provoking him!" Lily said.

"Stay out of this mudblood!"

"You better take that back Snape!" James yelled.

"Oh, I'm very scared now. What are you going to do, Potter, throw your snitch at me?" Snape asked sarcastically.

"James, don't do any thing stupid, please," Lily pleaded while getting up to stand beside James.

"Don't worry Lily, I won't, he's not worth it anyways," James stated while turning away.

"Oh, I don't think so, _Expelliarmus!!" _

"No!!! James, look out!" Lily screamed, and she jumped in front of the spell and ended up getting thrown into the lake.

**.:With Lily:.**

'O crap!!!! I can't swim very well. Calm down Lily, you can do it, just remember your swimming lessons. When you hit the bottom, kick off and you'll rise to the top. Yeah, that will work'

When Lily reached the bottom, she kicked off and had made it half way to the surface when she felt herself being pulled forcefully downwards. She looked down and saw at least a dozen grindylows clawing and pulling at her feet and ankles.

**.:With James and Sniv…Snape:.**

"What did you do?" James shouted at Snape.

"Hmm, I guess I got a little over excited, oops. Oh well, see ya Potter!"

James started panicking; Lily hadn't come up for air, what had happened?

"Lily, where are you?" James said while pacing. "Gosh, I can't wait any longer. Hang on Lily, I'm coming!"

James took off his shoes and socks and his outer robes. He put a bubblehead charm on so he could look for Lily all he needed to. Then, he dove in, and searched for her.

**.:With Lily:.**

Lily fought as hard as she could to relinquish the grindylows' grip, but to no abound. Seeing as how she could not use magic, all she could do was try and kick them off. She was losing air fast and she began to feel lightheaded and dizzy.

Everything began to go black and Lily's efforts had begun to slow. Soon, she was unconscious.

**.:James:.**

James had been searching for Lily for about fifteen minutes and still he had not found her.

'Lily, where are you,' he thought. Just then, he saw a flash of red in the sea of green and brown that surrounded him. He rushed down and saw that there were at least a dozen grindylows pulling at Lily's legs and ankles, they were trying to pull her down further. Since James had the bubblehead charm on, he was able to say a spell.

"_Stupefy!"_ He shouted, and all of a sudden, the grindylows stopped, completely stunned.

James grabbed Lily by the waist, and pulled her up to the surface. When he broke the water, the charm came off and he was able to breathe fresh air. On the other hand, Lily wasn't. She was still unconscious. He swam to shore with her and laid her on the bank.

"Come on Lily. Please wake up," James didn't know what to do, Lily was unconscious and she wasn't breathing. James Potter was not one to cry over nothing. He had cried when his father died, and he had cried with Sirius when he showed up at his house a broken man. James cried now, for he was unsure if the love of his life was going to live. All of a sudden, a blue light engulfed them both. James felt his energy flowing from his body into Lily's. All of a sudden, the light was gone and James was so exhausted he passed out. Lily's breath had finally returned to her, but she wasn't completely conscious.

Just then, Sirius and Remus were walking out on to the grounds to see if James had succeeded in asking Lily out. They had jus made it to the beech tree, when they saw Lily and James. Lily was lying on the ground and James' head was on her stomach, his arms sprawled across her. It looked like James had collapsed, and in fact, he had. Sirius and Remus rushed down to them.

"James, come on James, wake up!" Sirius shouted at him. "Remus, they won't wake up," he said with worry in his voice.

"Well, lets get them to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey will know what to do for them." Remus stated logically.

Remus conjured up a couple of stretchers to put Lily and James on. He then levitated them up to the castle. Sirius was walking along beside James as nervous and scared as he could be.

When they arrived, Madam Pomfrey rushed over to them saying, "My word, what happened to them?"

"We don't know, this is how we found them," stated Remus. Sirius was too overcome with shock to say anything

"Well, put them over here and go get the headmaster, after I have examined them, you two can come back in and stay with them."

Sirius and Remus ran as fast as they could to the Headmaster's office. Seeing as how Sirius had been there several times before, he already knew the password and so he said it as soon as the gargoyle was in view. They ran up the spiral staircase and barely waited for a 'come-in'.

"Professor Dumbledore! Lily and James!!! We found them by the lake…both of them unconscious. Madam Pomfrey sent us to get you!" Remus spoke, again, the rational one.

They got back to the hospital wing so fast it was as if they apparated. Remus and Sirius were told to stay in the hallway while Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore sorted everything out.

**.:15 minutes later:.**

Professor Dumbledore finally came out, and told Sirius and Remus that they could go in.

"But Professor, what happened to them?" Sirius asked, finally breaking his silence.

"Well, I really don't know what happened to Lily, but it looks to me like whatever did happen to her, James healed her from, but that took a lot of his energy and that caused him to lose consciousness. Not to worry Mr. Black, he will be fine. Ms. Evans will be fine as well, but we have to wait for them to fully wake up for us to completely figure everything out."

Upon hearing this, Sirius and Remus rushed in to the hospital wing with Professor Dumbledore following along behind them. They reached James' bed first and Sirius quickly conjured a chair so that he could stay with his best friend for as long as possible. Remus went to check on Lily and then walked back over to his fellow marauders.

**.:That Night:.**

Sirius had just nodded off when he found his pillow was moving. He looked up and noticed that his 'pillow' was his best and now fully conscious friend, James Potter.

"Jamesie!!!!! You're awake!!! Thank Merlin!!!" Sirius was now doing a very…well let's just say strange, happy dance.

"Moony! Wake up! Jamesie-boy is awake!!" Sirius said while shaking his friend awake.

"Huh? Whazzgoinon?" He stuttered while coming out of his deep slumber. "Oh, hey James, you're awake! Welcome back, as you can tell by Sirius' rather odd happy dance, we've missed you."

"Thanks guys. Hey!!! Where's Lily! Is she okay? Where's that git Snape? Oh, I'm gonna kill him. Let me out of here!"

"Wow! Hang on there a minute Prongs! Now, let's start at the beginning shall we? Tell us what happened." Remus said trying to calm the now furious James.

James told them everything. When he got to where Snape attempted to curse him and got Lily instead, Sirius rose from his chair ready to kill. Remus sat him back down, and told him to listen to the rest before he did anything rash.

He had just finished when they heard a rustling in the bed beside them. James rushed to Lily's side just as her eyes were fluttering open.

"James? Is that you? Oh, James!!! I'm so happy you're okay!!" She said while throwing her arms around his neck in a warm hug.

"Happy that I'm okay? Lily, you almost died!! I was so worried about you!!! Are _you_ okay?" James asked while still hugging her. He couldn't quite believe it was happening.

Lily pulled away, and said, "Of course. You did, after all, save me. Thank you so much James!" After saying this, Lily threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, but it was quick.

James, Sirius, and Remus all looked dumbfounded. They couldn't believe it. Lily Evans…_the_ Lily Evans had just kissed the bane of her existence, James Potter.

"Umm, James. I wanted to ask you something…Will you go out with me?" Lily asked meekly.

After James came over the initial shock that the love of his life had just asked him out, he bellowed, "Yes!!!!"

He then picked her up around the waist and spun her around several times before he sat back down on her bed with her in his lap.

"Lily, you have just made me the happiest man on this earth," James said after pecking her on the lips. "I never got to thank you for saving me earlier…so thank you."

"No problem James, I know that if given the chance, you would do the same for me," Lily replied.

"That's right, you should know, I'm always there."


End file.
